Tag Archives: new features

If you’ve transcribed any images yesterday or today, you’ve probably noticed the new feature on our transcription page!

You can use this exciting new feature whenever you come across a headstone with some sort of military information on it. We made this feature as easy as possible for the transcriber in an effort to make the process as simple and seamless. Here’s how it works:

1. When you come across a military headstone, transcribe all the regular information as usual.After you’ve entered in the name, birth and death dates, etc., click on the “+ add military specific info” link.

2. Type in all military-related information EXACTLY HOW IT’S WRITTEN on the headstone. Do not lengthen any abbreviations or abbreviate any words. We have obtained a list of common titles and their abbreviations from the VA and have designed an auto-populate system that will take care of all the categorizing for you! (Read on to see how it works)

3. Click on the “+ Faith Emblem” link and choose which emblem is on the headstone.You can usually find these emblems at the top of the headstone, but sometimes they are found elsewhere as well (i.e. in between the birth and death dates).

4. Once you have entered in all the information, click “save.” You won’t be able to see the military information you entered just yet, but you can click on the “record page” link to see more.

5. Our site will work behind the scenes to auto populate the military fields found on the headstone that you will see on the individual record page. That being said, there are hundreds of thousands of abbreviations out there, some that are not even on the VA’s extensive list of official abbreviations. If you see an abbreviation that does not register with our system (i.e. this record) feel free to contact us and we would love to add it so our system will recognize it and publish it on the page.

Note: Even if the abbreviation doesn’t register with the form on the record page, it will still be saved with that particular image.

So go try out our new transcription tool and let us know what you think! If you have any suggestions on how to make this feature better, comment below or email us at support@billiongraves.com. We would love to hear your feedback!

Introducing BillionGraves’ latest feature: FamilySearch Tree Connect! This feature allows you to attach BillionGraves images to their corresponding FamilySearch record. These images aid family members by giving them another source to draw valuable information from.

Watch this video to see how it works!

Missed a step while watching the video? Here’s the step-by-step process:

Go to the Tools Tab and click “FamilySearch” in the dropdown menu.

Register for FamilySearch or authenticate with FamilySearch (a.k.a. log in with your FamilySearch username and password)

Click “Get Started.“

Choose a cemetery by clicking on the drop-down menu under the top left FamilySearch icon and hit “Go.”

When a BillionGraves record pops up, see if there are any FamilySearch matches on the right hand-side that match the information on the headstone.

When a FamilySearch record comes up that matches the birth and death dates of the BillionGraves record, click “Match.”

Otherwise, click next to browse through BillionGraves records to find other FamilySearch matches.

As you’re getting started, here are some helpful hints to aid in connecting these records:

Look for the link on any records page to connect it to FamilySearch.

That’s right, we’ve made it as simple as clicking a button on any records page to link it to FamilySearch.

This will make linking any family records to FamilySearch (as well as any records uploaded in the future) very simple and easy!

Don’t forget to search for everyone who is buried together.

A lot of married couples are buried close together and share the same headstone, so don’t forget to search for every record attached to an image (including children!!). You will see these below the default person (the record that came up initially) in a section called “buried with.”

To see if they are on FamilySearch, click the arrow on the right side of their name.

If you find a match for one of the people on that record, chances are their wife and children are in FamilySearch too, so don’t forget to search for all of the people buried with that headstone!

If you are unable to connect a female record to FamilySearch, edit the search query to only include their maiden name.

Most women are listed in FamilySearch by their first name and maiden name only. So, if a FamilySearch record doesn’t come up automatically, click “edit query” on the right hand side of the page. Take out any initials and/or family names so you are searching by their first and maiden name only.

In this case, delete the “L.” and “Bingham” and search by the name: Ella Butler.

Questions/comments about this? Contact our support team at support@billiongraves.com or comment below and we will be happy to help!

The newest version of Legacy Mobile (v.1.1) is now available for iOS on the App Store. We heard your feedback and made some improvements you were looking for.

Here’s what you’ll see on the latest version of the app:

Bug fixes. Some of these bugs would make the app crash or the keyboard to lock up (not allowing people to add information in). We caught a bunch of these annoying little errors and fixed them for this version!

Navigation Bar and a History Management button on Family Tree view.
We realized navigating through the family tree was kind of tricky, so we added some forward and back buttons that work similar to your browser’s buttons.

In between these buttons, we also added a history management button that brings up the people you recently viewed for easier navigation between family records.

Information downloading from Family Search won’t keep you from viewing your family tree.In the previous version, you had to wait until the information from Family Search loaded in order to navigate around your family tree. Now, all you will see are little loading indicators for places in your tree that are downloading from Family Search.

Tree View Hints.Still feeling a little lost in the app? We added some hints in the family tree view to help you sort things out. Once you use the app a few times, these won’t appear anymore.

More options for adding/editing events.
Now you can add more life events in to an individual’s record! There are a bunch of new options: Adoption, Adult Christening, Baptism, BarMitzvah, Census, Christening, Cremation, Divorce, Funeral, Moves, and much more!

If you haven’t already, download this version from the App Store and try out the latest and greatest Legacy Mobile Features!

The latest version of the iOS App (Version 3.1) is available on the app store. Make sure you check the app store and download it on your device! Besides some minor bug fixes, this new version of the app has two brand-new features!

Transcribing from the app. This feature allows you to transcribe those headstones that are practically impossible to read from a photograph. This way you can look at the stone from all angles and even run your fingers along the indents to ensure that the correct information is transcribed!

Watch this video to find out how to use it (don’t miss the “magic” feature at the end!):

Adding new images to records already on BillionGraves. Have you seen a record on BillionGraves that needs to be updated (for instance, a new date has been added to the headstone or the first image didn’t have all the information on the headstone)? This feature allows you to make those corrections!

See how it works on this short video:

These are just two of the many ways we are improving the BillionGraves mobile app. We hope to get these new features out for the Android app soon. We’ll keep you posted as more improvements become available!

Happy Memorial Day weekend to those in the US! At a time when we pause to remember those who fought for our freedom, we visit our cemeteries and show our love with tokens and kind words. In honor of Memorial Day, some members of the BillionGraves team put together a fun video about finding your ancestors’ headstones using BillionGraves.

A Few Clarifications

We’ve been checking the comments on some message boards and we want to clarify two things:

1. The data on BillionGraves is created by the public. We respect that and we intend to always make the database free for the public to use.

2. You don’t necessarily need a data plan to use BillionGraves. We’ve looked into the $150 Samsung Galaxy Player, which has GPS, WiFi, and a camera, and it works great. You won’t be able to see that you’re in a specific cemetery, but don’t worry, we’ll take care of that on our end, and your pictures will be added to the correct cemetery.

Don’t forget to check the Leaderboard this weekend to see what you need to do to get on it! (Or stay on it, if you’re already there.) Have a great weekend and keep adding photos for Million More in May!